Undiagnosed starting issue with my Hyundai Verna DCT

The horn was working, the car was getting into ACC mode, and everything seemed okay.

BHPian fhdowntheline recently shared this with other enthusiasts:

Yesterday I encountered a most unusual and as yet undiagnosed issue in my Hyundai Verna DCT. I took my family to a restaurant in a popular high-street area in Balewadi, Pune in the afternoon. Lunch over, I walked back to the car and tried to start it with the push button. The car simply did not start, try as I might for a few times.

Removed the "smart key", placed it next to the stop-start, near it around it, everywhere. It simply could not detect the key.

The horn was working, the car was getting into ACC mode, and everything seemed ok. Then finally, dispatched the rest of my family through Uber, called RSA and then after an hour, a person appeared from the battery service.

He tried all sorts of jugaad, opening the battery terminal (to reset). He also asked me to try out the Bluelink start. Mind you, I have only recently changed my phone and had simply cloned over the app, never re-registered the car. So I went through that rigmarole and then tried to remote start from Bluelink. Nothing worked. The battery person was completely flabbergasted and said it was the first time that a battery reset had not worked. So towards the evening, we requested the Flatbed truck.

When the Flatbed guy arrived, he too started tinkering with the battery etc. But he was on a call with some technician, who had the notion that the car was "hung" or "stuck" in some Bluelink-related issue. So he again reset the battery, and we waited for some time, and then by around 6 pm or so (after an ordeal of 4 hours) I again sent a Bluelink command for remote start. And this time, the car started as if nothing had ever happened.

Not wanting to take chances, however, I took the car to the nearest service centre (Garve). Those folks were quite courteous, including the relationship person from whom I had purchased the car. Explained to the Service manager about this issue, and they too seemed to be a bit perplexed, but have promised that they will scan and resolve any potential issue.

At this point:

• I thought the SmartKey battery was bad- doesn't seem so.
• Starter motor issue- doesn't seem so.
• Car battery issue- doesn't seem so- the car is just 1 year old and is regularly used.

But one thing both the RSA guy and the Service Manager agreed- today's cars are sophisticated in technology, and therefore come with such potential pitfalls.

There are also a lot of What-Ifs - What if the car had failed to start when we were on our trip to Wai, say at a highway-side restaurant? With aged parents, it would have been a huge hassle to arrange for alternatives etc. Or at some remote location without nearby RSA access.

Will update you all with the outcome. But, it is a good idea to pause and think of just how much unnecessary tech is coming into our lives (remote start, smart key, ICE etc.)

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